Inspire Inuit supports participants to build leadership and career skills through their culture, lived experiences, and community, in a 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive space with peers and allies from across Inuit Nunangat.
A program grounded in a 2SLGBTQIA+ and Inuit inclusion.
Led by Inuit instructors and featuring community leaders and entrepreneurs, this 12-week program weaves together entrepreneurship, education, and culture through experiential workshops and real-world projects.
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Weekly live sessions with Inuit 2SLGBTQIA+ instructors and coordinators
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Group wellness sessions with local experts and community leaders who bring in cultural knowledge with a 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive lens.
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Ongoing one-on-one check-ins with program coordinators to help keep participants on track to achieve their goals.
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Weekly guest speaker sessions with 2SLGBTQIA+ business owners and leaders – who share their stories and knowledge of change, leadership and entrepreneurship.
Inspire Inuit supports youth in strengthening their leadership, workplace, and entrepreneurial skills by rooting learning in culture, community, and lived experience. Through virtual sessions and hands-on projects, participants explore their passions, set goals, and co-create solutions that drive employment, entrepreneurship, and community change.
Inspire Inuit is built to reflect a diversity of voices and experiences, with a focus on 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion. We welcome participants of all identities, ages, and locations, and work to create spaces that are inclusive, supportive, and grounded in respect.
Culturally-Rooted Safe, Inclusive and Innovative Space
Inspire Program Features
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Skills to start a business, community project or explore your career goals
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Learn marketing, operations, finance, branding and communication skills
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Support from instructors, leaders & local business owners
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Weekly allowance and start up grants
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Access to a laptop and internet
Inspire Inuit Curriculum
The Inspire Inuit Program focuses on providing participants with the opportunity to develop skills that are key for the future. Innovation, creative thinking and a growth mindset are at the foundation of this program, which explores the concepts of entrepreneurial leadership and community development, and provides participants with the foundational skills needed to achieve their personal and professional goals.
The Inspire program has three distinct levels which helps participants grow and apply their knowledge and ideas as they move through the program – Inspire, Innovate and Initiate. Learn more about them here.
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Build confidence, self-awareness, and resilience to meet challenges in life and in community.
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Cultivate connections to culture and heritage. Develop leadership skills that facilitate being a positive influence in community.
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Engage with community members to investigate challenges, identify existing resources, and recognize opportunities for change.
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Use empathy to understand and identify problems, develop creative solutions, validate ideas, design and test solutions, and make fact-based decisions.
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Using storytelling techniques, develop brand identities to create messages that resonate with others.
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Identify, evaluate, and connect with the key activities, partners and resources needed to sustain projects and businesses.
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Identify channels and use techniques to create strong connections with people, from customers to future employers.
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Develop financial literacy to accurately plan, track, report and sustain personal and project finances.
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Develop professional skills - such as digital literacy, goal setting, and interpersonal communication - that can support the achievement of personal, employment or entrepreneurial goals.
Meet Our Inspire Experts!
Our Inspire Nunavut Experts are local experts who share their stories of entrepreneurship, acting as inspiration for participants, and helping link our curriculum to the real world.
Inspire Inuit Team
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Maxine Issiqut Angoo
Watch our film!
Participants, community leaders and the Inspire team share their aspirations from the program, their experience the impact it has caused in their lives.
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While the program primarily recruits Indigenous youth from Nunavut, if you are committed to working on your business, professional or education goals, and are aged 18-30 years, we welcome you to apply for the program.
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It’s a simple two-step application process. Learn more about it here.If you are interested to apply for the program, fill out our application form to express your interest. A member of the Inspire Nunavut team will be in touch with for a short interview and to chat with you about the program, and your goals.
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Participants are expected to be passionate about creating impact, learning about their community, and combining personal and cultural values with their business, education or career goals.
The program runs for 12-weeks, three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). Participants will be expected to participate in the classes and commit to the program for 12 to 15 hours per week.
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Through the 12 weeks of the program, participants will explore their communities, entrepreneurship, design solutions, identify opportunities and plan actions while learning about branding and marketing, operations, finances, and how to operate a business.
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Definitely, yes. The program is designed as a space to not only explore entrepreneurship, but also professional and educational goals.
Many of our successful participants have joined the program with just a conviction for change, and explored their goals and themselves through the 12 weeks of the program.
FAQs
Program will run June 9 to August 28. Priority will be given to Inuit participants from Nunavut.
The Inspire Inuit program has been made possible through a collaboration between Small Economy Works and the Canadian Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
Contact us.
We’re always looking to meet and work with knowledgeable people from across Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to deliver the program or join us as guest speakers, instructors, business mentors and career coaches. Their insight and expertise ensure that we deliver the highest quality content-always from a Northern perspective.
If you’d like to get involved, learn more about us, connect with a staff, use the contact form to drop us a message, and we’ll be in touch.